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Sunday, May 25, 2025
Israel’s Sylvan Adams named one of world’s top 100 philanthropists
Zev Stub is the Times of Israel's Diaspora Affairs correspondent.
Canadian-Israeli philanthropist Sylvan Adams has been named to Time magazine’s inaugural TIME100 Philanthropy List of the world’s most influential donors.
The real estate entrepreneur, who was recently named president of the World Jewish Congress Israel Region, gave $100 million to Ben-Gurion University following the October 7, 2023, Hamas massacre in one of the largest gifts to an academic institution in Israeli history.
He has given at least that much each year since he moved to Israel in 2016, supporting education, sports facilities, initiatives for the elderly, afterschool programs, and health care. Notable investments include funding a children’s hospital in Holon in 2020 and the Sylvan Adams Emergency Hospital in Tel Aviv in 2022.
Adams tells Time magazine his giving is based on a Jewish tradition called tikkun olam, which in Hebrew means repairing the world.
The June 9 TIME100 Philanthropy issue names former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg the biggest donor of 2024 after he gave away $3.7 billion during the year.
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